Fix
by bluesimageburgundy
Summary: Steroline. Post no-humanity fic. Stefan responds to a call from Caroline.


Stefan walked up the steps and onto the porch, greeted by the sound of sniffling and soft curses from the other side of the front door. Confusion and panic set in and he immediately swung open the door, not bothering to knock.

"Caroline?!" he called out, searching through the dark house for her. The smell of new furniture and soap filled the air.

"Down here!" she replied, her voice all tears and frustration.

Stefan followed her voice to the basement, where he finally found her. Sitting cross legged on the cold floor, surrounded by parts of her washing machine and soapy water. Her face buried in her hands.

"Hey," he breathed, relief flooding him at finding her safe, "What are you doing?"

She lifted her head from her hands and looked up at him with red rimmed eyes.

"Failing," she answered, "Failing miserably."

"Failing at….?" Stefan asked.

"Life?" she answered, placing her hand down on the wet floor to push herself up, only to slip back down and drench herself further.

Stefan reached down to pull her up. Soapy water dripped from her clothes. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey," Stefan said, gently, cradling the soaking girl to his chest, "Shhh, it's okay, no big deal."

"It is a big deal. I'm useless. And helpless. And I can't DO this." she sobbed into his shirt.

Stefan could feel the anguish pouring off of her. His heart had jumped into his throat at her call, after weeks of not hearing from her. He'd been quietly spiraling himself. Memories of the things they'd done replaying constantly in his mind. But mostly he was worried about her, and how she was reacting to the guilt. And, seeing as how she wouldn't answer his calls, he had no idea. Until now. And she was not handling it well, clearly.

"I thought I could just come here and buy new furniture and do this…be a person…be on my own," she said, pulling back just enough to look him in the eyes.

"But I can't even do a load of towels without something going wrong," she said between stifled sobs.

Stefan's eyes raked over her face. Her normally clear blue eyes red lined and glistening. Big salty tears flowing down her soft pink cheeks. And he thought, guiltily, that this was what he'd been missing all this time. What he'd expected after her mother had died. The honor of being the one to comfort her.

And now, after losing her, joining her in the maddening darkness, returning just to lose her again…it seemed like she was finally ready to let him be the one to comfort her. He was surprised at how…whole that suddenly made him feel.

She was staring at him, waiting for him to respond. He couldn't help but smile at her, brushing his thumbs against her cheeks to clear away the tears. She sniffled and he kissed her scrunched nose without thinking.

"I'm going to fix this," he said, determined.

"I didn't have anyone else to call," she said, suddenly sorry.

"Caroline, I've been calling you for weeks," he rebuked.

"And now I only called you because I need something," she said, feeling guilty. It was her default lately. Guilty and useless.

"I'm glad you called, no matter what the reason," he replied, honestly.

Caroline smiled then. The first smiled he'd seen from in far too long. Her hands reached up to rest on his wrists, his thumbs continued to gently sweep across her cheeks.

"I GOT this," he said playfully, before placing a soft kiss to her salty cheek.

Caroline's eyes fluttered closed at the sweet gesture. It had been far too long. Of forcing themselves apart. Of torturing themselves needlessly.

Stefan dropped his hands from her face and took her small wrists, placing a final kiss to the fingers of her loose fist before releasing her.

"Go," he ordered.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Go!" he repeated, "Take a bubble bath. Have a glass of wine. Watch a reality show. When you come back, everything will be fixed."

"Although, it looks like you already had your bubble bath," he teased, tugging on a wet strand of hair.

Caroline giggled and reluctantly agreed to leave him to fix the washing machine. She watched him pick pieces off the floor as she slowly made her way upstairs.

"Stefan," she said softly.

He lifted his eyes to her, his complete attention focused on her like it always was these days.

"Thank you for always being there to fix me," Caroline said sincerely, her hands wringing nervously on the rails.

"I'll spend the rest of eternity making up to you the times that I haven't been," he replied, with a weight that seemed to startle her. Stefan watched as she sucked in a shaky breath. It seemed that the time for pretenses was quickly passing them by. Honesty was taking its place. Raw and terrifying honesty.

Caroline smiled and nodded, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. Stefan watched as she walked up the stairs, not taking his eyes off her until the last strand of blonde hair disappeared from view.


End file.
